US primaries in New Hampshire

The Republican front-runner Donald Trump and the Democrat Bernie Sanders have won clear victories in the New Hampshire primaries. US voters are sending the message that they want radical change, commentators write, explaining why many Europeans find Sanders appealing.

Global perspectives: Trump's proposals are pernicious

Although Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have struck a chord with voters neither should become president but Trump would certainly be the worst alternative, the US paper Washington Post comments:

“Both have positioned themselves as outsiders appealing to voters who believe the system, and the leaders of the two major parties, have failed them. The grievances they speak to are real: a sense that the economy has left too many people behind, that globalization and technological change are helping the few while stranding the many. ... We think both men are dangerously if seductively wrong in their facile diagnoses and prescriptions. But Mr. Sanders’s platform is at least well-meaning. ... By contrast, Mr. Trump’s proposals are pernicious as well as preposterous. There is no way to round up 11 million illegal immigrants and deport them - but no one should want to live in a nation that would attempt such a thing.”

The socialist the Europeans are lacking

Sanders is the kind of politician many Europeans wish they had, writes political scientist Vittorio Emanuele Parsi in the liberal business daily Il Sole 24 Ore:

“Ever since his clear victory against rival Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, the Europeans are also getting to know Bernie Sanders. … What has impressed many Europeans is that they see a potential US president who thinks and talks like we do - perhaps for the first time ever. Or rather he talks like fewer and fewer European leaders do, but like many of the Old Continent's citizens would like to see them do. Bernie Sanders has the courage to describe himself as 'socialist' in a country where that word is basically a political death certificate. Compared with his programme the agenda of the Socialist International in Europe seems rather timid and defensive - despite its supposedly having been inspired by social democratic models.”

Will Trump and Sanders bring radical change?

The US political landscape is on the brink of major upheavals, commentator Gellért Rajcsányi writes on opinion portal Mandiner:

“The presidential election campaign is still an open race. A real battle with dramatic twists can only be a good thing for US democracy, which has become all too predictable for voters. … And we haven't even mentioned the potential candidacy of former New York mayor and successful businessman Michael Bloomberg. … The success of Trump and Sanders could lead to a paradigmatic change. If these two end up as the presidential candidates this will radically change party life in America.”